


One Life

by sipuli



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Oneshot, and have to write an entire fic just to get to use it, honestly i can't even think of any tags for this one, that feeling when you come up with one line of dialogue, they just talk about phil, too tired to tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:47:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28851543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sipuli/pseuds/sipuli
Summary: "He grew up knowing that he didn’t have the protection everyone else has. He wouldn’t get second chances. He would have to be perfect, and he was."Ranboo starts asking questions and Techno opens up about why he's so protective of his only friend.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), Ranboo & Technoblade, Technoblade & Phil Watson
Comments: 6
Kudos: 278





	One Life

**Author's Note:**

> Hoo boy, I wrote this one under severe sleep deprivation because when the inspiration strikes, you don't go to bed and let it pass. No beta, no letting it sit and re-reading it later, no editing. I hope you enjoy.

“What’s you and Phil’s deal, really?”

Techno looks up from the book he’s reading and his eyes narrow as they meet Ranboo’s. “What do you mean by that?”

Ranboo blinks twice and quickly lowers his gaze to his hands, fingers nervously tapping on the table. He carefully forms the question in his mind, shaping it to sound just right. Techno is one of those people he does _not_ want to anger. The warrior has been nothing but kind to him, but he is still a little bit scared of him.

“I mean -” Ranboo glances at the door, even though Phil isn’t supposed to be back for at least another two hours - “you two are probably the most powerful fighters on the entire server. You could take over the whole thing if you wanted to. And you… you spend your days in this little cottage, far away from everything, like you’re hiding from something. What would someone like Phil possibly need to hide from? Or someone like you?”

“I think this ‘little cottage’ is rather nice,” Techno remarks. He doesn’t sound angry, which is a relief for Ranboo. 

“It is,” he continues, “but it’s not really something you’d expect from the founders of the Antarctic Empire. You have this, this reputation of being - I don’t know, these fierce, undefeatable warriors who make nations crumble under your feet?”

“Um, isn’t that… pretty much what happened to L’Manberg?”

“I mean, yeah,” Ranboo replies, and shudders at the memory of the crater that exposed the bedrock deep beneath what was once a prosperous country. “But that wasn’t just you, it was also Dream. And you were retired before that, isn’t that why you came here in the... first place...”

Ranboo’s voice fades into silence as he realises what he has just said. Techno raises his eyebrows. They both think about the same day, four people who weren’t much more than kids approaching the house with blood-stained aprons and shining blue axes in hand. 

“And, and the first time you attacked them,” Ranboo quickly continues, eager to move the conversation forward, “Phil wasn’t around yet. It feels like this has something to do with him. You’re so -” What’s the right word? Not “protective”, that’s not what it is, not really - but he doesn’t have a better way of describing it. “I feel like if something were to happen to him, you wouldn’t stop until the whole server has been burned to ashes.”

Techno is quiet for a moment and Ranboo is starting to get nervous. Did he screw up? He watches silently as Techno takes the book he was reading, slides it back into the bookshelf and turns back to Ranboo.

“How many lives do you have left?”

The question is thrown into the air very casually, with no threatening undertones, but Ranboo can feel his pulse double nevertheless. “Um - all three?” 

He can feel them in his chest, pulsing with his heartbeat like little balls of warm light. Everyone knows how many lives they have left, it’s the kind of thing you just know. 

“And how many do you think Phil has?”

“Well -” Ranboo can’t remember Phil dying a single time, but then again, neither Phil nor Ranboo has been around for very long. Ranboo has no idea what kind of exciting and dangerous adventures Phil has taken part in before settling down here with Techno.

“He has one life. Just one.”

“Oh.” Ranboo can’t help but think he can’t be that great of an “undefeatable warrior” if he has already died twice.

Techno seems to guess what he’s thinking. “He hasn’t died. Not once. He was born with only one life.”

Ranboo instinctively puts his hand on his chest, feeling the warmth of his three lives glowing under his fingertips, and shivers. “I didn’t know that was possible.”

“Neither did I, before he told me about it.” Techno rarely looks as serious as he does right now. “He grew up knowing that he didn’t have the protection everyone else has. He wouldn’t get second chances. He would have to be perfect, and he was. You’ve seen him in here, but you don’t know about all the monsters he has slayed, the entire cities he has built from scratch, the way he flies like no one else - you should see him soaring above nothingness with his wings, knowing he will never, ever fall.”

Ranboo wants to say something, but he feels like anything he says would just ruin the moment. Techno’s eyes are fixed somewhere far away, locked into a memory Ranboo knows nothing of.

“And I know he doesn’t _need_ my protection,” Techno continues, “for a long time he was the one protecting _me_. He took me in when I had nowhere to go. I’m not going to go through the entire sob story, just… he was there for me when no one else was. Phil and I go way back. And he’s been protecting himself for his whole life, he’s never had any other option. If I can make it even just a little bit easier for him, I’m going to do it.”

Ranboo nods. He understands, at least he thinks he does. He can’t imagine what it would be like to live with just one life, the other side constantly so dangerously close. Tubbo lives like that, he realizes, and Tommy, they are both on their last life. He glances at Techno, who is still staring at something only he can see. All stories have more than one side, Ranboo thinks.

He doesn’t bring up anyone’s lives again, he doesn’t talk about any of this with Phil, he doesn’t ask Techno any more details about his past. But he feels like he understands this strange duo a little bit better than before.


End file.
